Spiced Vegan Pumpkin And Cocoa Muffins

Day1 of BM#10: Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? Time does fly. Between work and family I am finding it hard to squeeze time for blogging. But I scraped some free time to cook and click for this edition of BM and my theme is going to be "Winter Specials". For me winter is all about spiced bakes, spicy curries and heartwarming foods in general..

What do you find the most difficult thing to do in Winter? For me its slipping out of bed in the morning while its still dark outside and the sun refuses to shine! Seriously, who wants to get up from under that cozy cocoon created by that oh-so-soft-egyptian-cotton-sheet-topped-with-down-filled-duvet,walk the frigid marble floor in the bathroom and do your morning duties? **Shudder**  Well, the clock won't stand still for me just because I am feeling that way every damn day of Winter.Whether I like it or not I need to get up and go about my business cause I ain't no princess and I wasn't born with a silver spoon.Grey and Gloomy mornings such as these need something to look forward to - in the form of Spiced Pumpkin and Cocoa Muffins. **Yum** This with a hot cup of tea is pure bliss! After that I am looking forward to the rest of my morning. :)

A few days ago, I bought a few wedges of Orange pumpkins and thought of making my own Pumpkin Puree. It came in handy when I wanted to make these Pumpkin-Chocolate muffins.Don't you love the color? One evening when I was googling for recipes, this muffin recipe caught my eye that prompted me to make my own batch. I wanted to make a large batch but I have at home only  8 and 6- cup muffin pans. So had to adjust the base recipe's ingredient proportions to yield 14 muffins.

Before I go ahead and give the recipe, I thought I will share (one-a-day) funny ways to "Maintain a healthy level of Insanity" that my co-worker L sent over to me.It cracked me up --"At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and Point A Hair  Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down".

Ingredients( For 6 + 8 Muffins):

• 1-1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
• 1/2 Cup Store-bought or Home-made Apple Sauce
• 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2-1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1-1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1-1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice
• 1-1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Tool:

• 8-Cup Muffin Pan
• 6-Cup Muffin Pan

Procedure:

 To Make the Pumpkin Puree: 

• Peel the pumpkin and dice them up. Steam or pressure cook (with very less water). If pressure cooking, it will generate lots of water.Drain the water and cool the chunks.

• Puree in the blender until smooth. Freeze the unused portion.

• Make the Muffins:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.Add Salt and mix well.

• In a bowl add the sugar, apple sauce, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and mix well.

• Add the flour in batches.

• Alternate the flour and oil.Mix only till combined.

• Add the mini chocolate chips and stir with a silicone spatula.

• Grease the muffin wells with little bit of Olive Oil. Spoon the batter evenly into the wells of the muffin cup.

• Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the tooth-pick inserted into the center comes clean.

• Have at it with a hot cup of Coffee or Tea.

Makes 6 + 8 Scrumptious Muffins.

For this week's  "Black and White Wednesday"@Susan's "The Well-Seasoned Cook"- Reminiscing Summer

Enjoy!